...the wreck of the Spanish galleon San Agustin in November 1595, 16 years after Drake sailed these waters. The galleon, which was bound from Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco in Mexico, was carrying a cargo of Chinese goods, including priceless Ming porcelain items, which were salvaged by the Indian people and traded across the San Francisco Bay Area...

Can you imagine what that was like? Talk about an alien encounter. You've got your kayaks or canoes or whatever and you spend your days fishing or diving for abalone or whatever they did there.

And some guy shows up with this:

WTF?!

I love reading history because I just BURN with the desire to know a moment like that.

There is no dispute that Drake sailed north along the Pacific Coast after raiding Spanish settlements in Panama. His ship, the Golden Hind, was leaking badly, and he had to find a harbor on the unexplored coast of what is now California.

It's about 3600 miles between Panama and Drakes Bay. It seems pretty far to go with a badly leaking ship.

RoyBatty:There is no dispute that Drake sailed north along the Pacific Coast after raiding Spanish settlements in Panama. His ship, the Golden Hind, was leaking badly, and he had to find a harbor on the unexplored coast of what is now California.

It's about 3600 miles between Panama and Drakes Bay. It seems pretty far to go with a badly leaking ship.

I think what they were trying to say (badly) was that Drake had always planned to explore the west coast of North America but needed to find a place to put in on repairs before heading across the ocean. Panama is the last spot on that leg of the journey where we have undisputed archeological proof of him being there.

Lunchlady:I think what they were trying to say (badly) was that Drake had always planned to explore the west coast of North America but needed to find a place to put in on repairs before heading across the ocean. Panama is the last spot on that leg of the journey where we have undisputed archeological proof of him being there.

"Chinese records (in the Liang Shu and in Volume 231 of the Great Chinese Encyclopedia compiled by Ma Tuan-Lin relate that Hui-Shen, one of five Buddhist priests, arrived in a country they called Fu-Sang in 459 CE (common era or AD), which seems to have been the West Coast of America from British Columbia southward. Although some scholars dispute this story of the early arrival of Chinese on the North American continent, the reported discovery of ancient Chinese artifacts in Victoria, BC, and in Mexico seems to support it. Hui-Shen's party appears to have traveled down the California coast to Mexico. "Hui Shen landed at Point Hueneme, near Oxnard, CA,according th Chinese writings in 459 AD.

When he returned to China, they laughed at him and wrote down his story while mocking him all the while. Do not know their Chinese fark handles.

"Chinese records (in the Liang Shu and in Volume 231 of the Great Chinese Encyclopedia compiled by Ma Tuan-Lin relate that Hui-Shen, one of five Buddhist priests, arrived in a country they called Fu-Sang in 459 CE (common era or AD), which seems to have been the West Coast of America from British Columbia southward. Although some scholars dispute this story of the early arrival of Chinese on the North American continent, the reported discovery of ancient Chinese artifacts in Victoria, BC, and in Mexico seems to support it. Hui-Shen's party appears to have traveled down the California coast to Mexico. "

Fark Rye For Many Whores:nailed a plate of brass to a tree claiming the land for Queen Elizabeth and sailed home, around the world.

Whoever's hiding the brass plate we're all waiting.

Believe it or not, there was actually a famous hoax centered around the brass plate. Some local historians buried a fake brass plate where they knew people would find it and inscribed a secret message on the back for their colleague who was obsessed with finding the plate. Then they either died or forgot about it, and years later people dug it up and the authorities thought it was real for years.